


Test Subject Hero

by Ice_ice_bby



Category: Portal (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Accidental recruitment, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Mineta Minoru Doesn't Exist, Crossover, GLaDOS just wants everyone to leave, Gen, Major Character Injury, Muteness, Neurotoxin, Original Character Replaces Mineta Minoru, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Portal 2, The Cake Is A Lie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2020-03-13 07:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 19,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18936550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ice_ice_bby/pseuds/Ice_ice_bby
Summary: A boy escaping from Aperture Science Laboratories finds himself at U.A High School. Being a former test subject who was apparently released for being unneeded, he is quickly accepted into the school. Can Mathieu live his new life as a hero in training? Or will his old life drag him back to testing?





	1. When Life Gives You...a Student?

Lemons. If life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad!

 

That quote rang through his head as he ran, Mathieu Kiyota. Get mad, he said! Get angry! And, he did. Got angry, and got revenge on some robot with the intent of killing him. Why? Because apparently, when you’re attached to the body of _another_ robot attempting to kill someone, you tend to get _very_ corrupt. So, once Mathieu was allowed to leave, he ran.

There was a cube strapped onto his back, thankfully light enough not to slow him down. Mathieu couldn’t leave the cube behind anyway, that was his _family_. But...Mathieu wished he had a sense of direction, that had to have been lost when he slammed his head into the wall one too many times.

Running, however, got him into civilization. The sweet sound of civilization and not having to be in soundless walls where the only real sound he ever really heard was a robot giving him commands or the sound of gunfire. Yeah, traffic and people walking around was a much better sound.

Mathieu found himself mostly just wandering through the city though, not really sure where to even go. He almost wished that he didn’t just run off before deciding where he should even go. Curse his almost photographic memory of knowing test chambers like the back of his hand, but failing to know how to even cross a street. It wasn’t like he could ask anyone where to go either, since all the noises that he could produce were sounds and very poor attempts at words. Was that a result of the brain damage? Probably, but then again, all he ever heard was his test instructor.

 

Mathieu found himself outside of a school, or well, the walls of one. He frowned, not sure how to get in. Of course, that was until he remembered. That part of him that even made him have some sort value in testing. His _quirk_.

Mathieu stepped back, snapping his fingers twice, causing two portals to appear. They were right next to each other, but it allowed him to jump high enough to send another portal into the school grounds. Alright, he was in. But now what? Maybe he should rest, resting was good. But where to rest? And that was when he saw it...a dumpster. _No_ , he wasn’t going to sleep in the dumpster...sort of. Just on it, or next to it.

Little did Mathieu know, someone with an _explosive_ personality was going to find him.

 

“Deku. Tricking me into thinking he didn’t have a quirk. I’ll show him! I’ll..I’ll _show him_ .” A bitter voice spoke, a boy named Bakugou. He stormed angrily to the back of the school, considering on taking his anger out on a makeshift version of his classmate, Midoriya. Or maybe to go angrily sulk about the fact that his apparently now quirk bearing classmate _almost_ beat him. Either one sounded fine to him.

Now, something unexpected suddenly happened. Not seeing a baby on a doorstep, or well, dumpster unexpected but seeing a sleeping figure in front of the dumpster.

This sent Bakugou into a mini crisis, he wasn’t as angry as he was before, now trying to decide what to do with this...person, if they were even still alive.

Somehow, someway, Bakugou found himself carrying a large cube and dragging the body of the person into his school. He was trying ignore the shocked stares of how uncaring he brought the body in, gripping their boot covered ankle and how their exposed arms were covered in cuts. But when, ugh, Midoriya spoke up, he just gave up trying to keep the ounce of cool to prevent himself from just...putting this person in danger. That feeling felt way too foreign to him, concerned over someone who was weak. Or well, seemed weak.

“B-Bakugou...w-what is…?” One of his classmates spoke up, watching Bakugou let go of the person’s ankle to sit down, having the cube he was carrying onto his desk. “It’s a person, idiot. Are you blind?” Bakugou coldly snapped, suddenly glancing up to see the person slowly waking up from their...sleep. Oh great, at least they weren’t dead. How embarrassing would it be find out that you, in your one attempt at kindness, to realize that the body you had brought in was dead.

 

The person in question, Mathieu, suddenly found himself being stared at...by a group of people. They were around his age, sure, but boy was it weird to be stared at. He slowly, and shakily stood up, rubbing the back of his head to find dirt and some blood on the back of his head. That could be fixed...probably. Glancing around the room for a second or two, Mathieu simply walked over to the cube on Bakugou’s desk. The stare he gave Bakugou was an odd one, a “What are you doing with my things?” sort of stare.

“What? I helped you. Don’t expect something like that again.” Bakugou bitterly muttered, not getting any sort of reply, not even a noise of annoyance. Alright, weird.

Mathieu was about to leave, before questions were thrown at him. “Who are you?”  One student asked. Another asked, “You aren’t hurt badly, are you?” “W-why were you even here?” That question was common. Matthieu took in a deep breath, looking around the classroom to see a chalkboard. Perfect!

Mathieu took in another deep breath, writing down answers for _most_ of the questions. ‘ _My name is Mathieu Kiyota. I’m fine, I think. And I ran away.’_ Mathieu wrote, casually sitting on the desk with his legs slightly crossed. The students in the room just stared at his oddly neat answers, now having even more questions. Matthieu sighed tiredly, wondering why these people had so many questions. He was regretting on running away now...his test instructor rarely questioned him.

 

“I suppose I can see the logic in why you would seek safety here. But you never answered _how_ you got in. It’s almost impossible for any news press to get in and a challenge for villains to get in.” A student was standing in front of the board, studying the replies to the _many_ questions that Mathieu had to answer.

Mathieu frowned, assuming they wanted to prove his way of entry. Well, might as well show them then, huh? Mathieu frowned slightly, as if in thought, snapping his fingers twice like before, making two portals appear on the ceiling and the wall facing in front of him. Mathieu stuck his arm through the portal, just glancing at the people who were staring at him in slight shock or confusion.

Suddenly, there was a tired sounding sigh from behind the group.  

 

“You are all supposed to be sitting down. From the week you all have been here, I assume sitting down in your seats was-” The voice, Aizawa, spoke with his usual tired expression. His eyes unnaturally widened at the sight at the new person in the room. He was in that yellow sleeping bag of his, not getting out of it of course, but the sight of...a _non student_ in his classroom just set off an odd red flag. The person wasn’t a villain, since if they were, the students would’ve done something about it. Not the news press either, they were too quiet and looked more focused on that cube in their arms.

“Who _are_ you?” Aizawa asked with a slight accusing tone, glaring at the confused looking figure in the room with his arm in a portal. The person, Mathieu, pointed at himself before removing his arm from the portal and the two portals disappeared. Mathieu let out a noise of slight confusion, walking over to the board and underlining his name as if Aizawa couldn't see it. 


	2. The Next Test is to Find Out Where He Came From

Mathieu gave the accusing man a confused stare now. It was an awkward stare down, mostly having the adult in the room almost glare at the...non student. Aizawa motioned the boy to leave the room, most likely to take this issue up with the principal. The two...left, after a few minutes of Mathieu trying to process who Aizawa was before doing what he was told.

“That...just happened. I wonder what that was all about.” One of the students spoke up before all eyes were on Bakugou. " _What?_ I didn't kidnap the guy." Bakugou glared at the staring crowd rolling his eyes. Midoriya frowned, putting a hand on his chin. "That guy had a quirk...he must be good at using it..." The green haired boy muttered, recalling on how the mysterious person used his quirk. Sure it wasn't impressive and with the right tools, anyone could probably get into the school, but...still. It was a quirk. Seriously, Midoriya had seen some worse quirks. 

"We never said you kidnapped him...calm down." One of the students was reassuring the explosive student, and the others were studying the answers that the mysterious person, Mathieu wrote on the board. He had scribbled down really vague answers, only mostly writing down his name and that he...just walked in. That wasn't going to help his case of not being a threat. 

Speaking of Mathieu, he was dragged down to the principal's office. Or well, more like the people in the office were staring at Mathieu in confusion as he stood in the corner with a glare on his face. Mathieu opened his mouth to say something, only making a noise of clear uneasiness. Well, it wasn't  _his_ fault that the people staring at him almost felt like a threat. Sure, they weren't a giant robot that could kill him with deadly neurotoxins, but how would he know? 

Mathieu was taken out of the office, probably to give him a chance to relax and get himself together while the teachers and other people in the office decided what to do with him. Mathieu could hear the faint voices talking about him. Did he care now? Not really. In fact, he was at least a little relived that he wasn't just being thrown into testing. He glanced down at himself, reading that logo on his shirt.  _Aperture Laboratories._ That name. Maybe he could get some new clothes to forget about...that place. Well, maybe just at least replace the jumpsuit. Just a small detail to make Mathieu forget about where he came from. 

"Excuse me. You have to come with me." That tired sounding voice. Mathieu turned around, seeing that tired looking man who had been glaring at him most of the time. What was his name? Aizawa? Mathieu tried to remember, keeping his distance from the other person. So far, no threat. In fact...Aizawa almost looked familiar. Mathieu just couldn't put his finger on it. 

He was suddenly given a uniform. Okay, weird and sudden. Mathieu felt somewhat...nervous. What did he need a uniform for? Did Mathieu  _seriously_ just walk into a testing facility disguised as a school? Alright. Don't panic. Maybe it's just a normal school, Mathieu could only vaguely remember attending school and having some sort of dress code. But with all the things that had happened to him...all those tests...how would he know? 

Aizawa could only stand there, staring at the clearly internally panicking boy. The boy stared at his uniform like it was the worst thing to man. Although, given how this boy was acting so far, the teacher really could only watch it all unfold. The boy had at least left "threat territory", looking too overwhelmed to fight back or would look like he was planning to do something, but failed to actually go along. 

Aizawa noticed how the boy's eyes would almost dart back and forth, as if to examine his entire location to either see how to escape or how to at least survive. Aizawa stood there quietly, erasing the boy's quirk would definitely send the boy into some kind of shock. 

Now, it wasn't that Aizawa  _hated_ Mathieu. Oh no, in fact, if the two didn't have to meet this way, the man wouldn't have given the boy too much issue. But see...how do you deal with someone just randomly appearing in a school, no older than any of the other students and looks so...lost? He took a step back, Mathieu locked eyes with him. "It's fine." Aizawa breathed out, quiet as possible. "You're a student now. It's just a school uniform." Oh, that was hard to say. This boy hadn't taken the entrance exam, sure he was scheduled to, but...if he failed, what would've been the point of all this? 

Mathieu then nodded slowly, looking over the uniform before turning away, most likely and hopefully to find a place to change his clothes.  Aizawa let out a breath, glad to get that over with. Aizawa wouldn't admit this, but he probably wouldn't have known what to do if Mathieu refused. He wasn't an official student and probably wouldn't be phased by the usual "If you don't do what I say, then get expelled." speech. 

Meanwhile with Mathieu, he quickly walked away from the teacher with the uniform in his arms. It didn't feel like a testing uniform, it was too...light and thin. But it was better than the jumpsuit, so Mathieu had to give credit for that. He quickly changed his clothes, leaving the white shirt unbuttoned at the top and the jacket was unbuttoned all the way. The red tie in his left hand and the blue jumpsuit in his right. 

Wow. He really did feel like a new man. Something about this new uniform felt off to him, like sure, it was a little big but...was that a feeling of safety? Maybe, Mathieu really didn't know. He didn't put the shoes on, they were fairly big. Plus, come on, he did like his long-fall boots. You never knew when you'd jump off a high place. Mathieu eventually stepped out of the bathroom, seeing Aizawa just...awkwardly stand there. 

"Alright. Come with me. You'll have to stay in my classroom with the other students until we find some records for you."  Aizawa told him, leading him back to the classroom and again, as if on cue, all eyes were on Mathieu. 


	3. All Eyes on Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was beta read by a good friend of mine, unfortunately they don't have AO3 though

Mathieu glanced at Aizawa, the cube was still in the classroom. Some of the students began to mumble to each other now, mumbling things on how Mathieu was apparently going to be attending U.A. Wow. News sure got around quickly. 

Some students, the friendlier ones, weren't too bothered by a new student. Besides, despite his odd entrance, he seemed to adapt to the class somewhat quickly. 

Others, not rejecting the boy, were a little doubtful. That was...it? No exams, no anything? How was that even fair? He didn't work hard like them. For all the school knew, he could've been some sort of spy. 

Mathieu sat down in one of the empty seats, having his jumpsuit rest on his lap and the red tie on his desk. He looked extremely out of place, having no books, no anything. Just a pink cube and that jumpsuit. 

But, despite this, the day went on like it usually did. And plus, Mathieu seemed to be taking in the information like he really was a regular student. He would glance at the other students, observing them as well. But...despite how observant he was, it was obvious that he was occasionally zoning out. 

"Hey, class is over. Do...do you want to come with us? For lunch, I mean." Mathieu sat up straight from the sudden voice, a girl was standing next to her. She looked friendly. That brown hair...that smile. Hm. Mathieu stood up with a confused look on his face, tilting his head. "Y-yeah, you're probably uh...really confused on where everything is, s-since it's your first day here and all." That green haired kid. Mathieu frowned in thought now, rocking back and forth somewhat on his heels before nodding. Lunch was good. Besides, it'd be nice to eat with...well, actual humans. 

It sure beat trying to find scraps of old food because your test instructor just happened to lack the ability to eat or have human needs. 

The three students expecting an answer from him smiled in approval, that must've been what they wanted to hear. So, Mathieu found himself trailing behind the three students, cube on his back and his clothes in his arms. He stuck out like a sore thumb, mostly seeming to ignore any passing comments on how out of place he was or that apparently carrying around a large cube just wasn't the daily norm. 

"So, you said your name was Mathieu, right? Mathieu Kiyota?" The girl suddenly spoke up, her voice was fairly sweet...Mathieu really liked it, to say the least. He nodded in reply, getting a smile from the girl. "Wow, what a great name! I'm Urarako Ochako! And this is Izuku Midoriya, and Iida Tenya!" She introduced them all with that peppy voice of hers. The other two, Midoriya and Iida...interesting. Midoriya, at least from what Mathieu could see, was awkward and...shy? While Iida seemed like he wanted to say something but was lost on the words at the moment. 

The group began to walk again with Mathieu quietly trailing behind them to get some lunch. The group sat down and that's when questions began to flow. 

"So, you say just appeared here and just walked in. Seems the logic is a bit...off. Not that I don't believe you, of course." Iida began to mumble, mostly to himself. The three students couldn't help but stare at the obviously awkward boy. Plus, it wasn't helping that Mathieu would glare at his food before taking a reluctant bite, acting as if he had never eaten real food before. 

Mathieu nodded at Iida's statement, mouth full with food and swallowed. He couldn't verbally answer, but...maybe if one of them had a pen. Mathieu used his spoon to spell out the word "pen". He didn't know what reaction to get...but Midoriya spoke up. "Pen? What...what does that mean?" He sounded confused and the mute boy could only let out a somewhat annoyed sigh. How does one communicate to someone else without talking...? Oh! He got it!

Mathieu had to admit, he felt like an idiot, but what else was he suppose to do? He pretended to write with the spoon, hoping the students would get the hint and give him a pen and maybe some maybe some paper to write with. "Oh! He must mean he  _needs_ a pen!" Ochako came to the conclusion, oh thank goodness. Out of all the people sitting with him, someone got it. 

Mathieu was given a pen and some paper, scribbling down another response. " _Yes._ " He wrote simply, getting a collective sigh from the two boys and nod from the girl. Mathieu tapped his chin with the pen. " _This is good. Better than beans and space dried food._ " He added, setting the pen down to finish his meal. 

"Well, I've heard you're going to take the entrance exam. From your demonstration of your quirk, you have some sort of strategy, right?" The glasses wearing boy then spoke up, not getting a reply. 

Mathieu didn't understand, nor did he seem to interested in any type of exam, but more on the food he was eating. It was just that good, or it was that he was actually starving and that he probably had to eat or he would pass out. Either way, Mathieu wasn't really listening to the conversation anymore. "You're actually really behind, especially if you did get accepted..." Mathieu glanced up slowly, that green haired kid was talking again, what was his name? Midoriya? Oh joy, they were staring at him again. It didn't really help that with these people were asking him so many questions and that he ate like he was starving, it was getting to be too much. 

"Hopefully the school will find your records in time, it's not everyday anyone gets accepted into U.A like you!" The girl, Ochako, chimed in with that sweet smile before she and the others began to eat. Mathieu nodded in reply, leaning back with a soft sigh...it was going to be a long day. 


	4. Aperture Science: Cake, Testing, and Records

The day went by fairly fast, soon it was the end of the school day. Mathieu waved goodbye to the three students: Iida, Ochako, and Midoriya. Mathieu looked around, glancing back as if to look for something. Someone...was walking towards him. 

For some reason, they gave off an oddly charismatic feeling. A symbol of peace, if you will. Said person also was quite muscular looking...way stronger than anyone Mathieu had ever seen. They looked familiar too, a faint memory of the same person...but who were they? It wasn't that Aizawa man, but...Mathieu couldn't jump to conclusions, at least not yet. 

He took a step back and the man stopped. Mathieu was staring at the larger man, trying to crouch to make himself smaller. Just something to make him feel smaller, and safer. He didn't notice that the man was a little more observant than expected. 

All-Might had to let out a sigh, this was going to be a little bit of a challenge. The school finally managed to find records on the boy, Mathieu Kiyota. So all that was left for the boy to...well, explain himself and get him ready for exams. Most students would be eager to get ready for the exams to get accepted into U.A, but apparently not this kid. No, this kid looked like apparently anything that even directly looked at him was some sort of threat. If only All-Might knew the reason for said behavior. 

"Excuse me, young man! I need you to come with me to the principal's office!" All-Might said, giving the boy a grin, something to ease up the tension. It didn't. The boy didn't run away, thankfully, but he took a challenging step forward. He had set that odd cube behind him, as if to protect it like it was a real person. All-Might had to hold back another sigh, okay, less loud. But boy did step forward! That was something. 

"It's alright, you're safe. You just have to back to the principal's office. Nothing too bad, I promise!" All-Might then said, not as loudly or energetic as before, this felt almost too surreal. A student who was seemingly afraid of heroes. Most of the time it was always the people looking up to or at least feeling something positive towards said hero. But...the boy picked the cube up, joining All-Might on heading to the principal's office. Okay, good. 

 

Mathieu found himself back in the principal's office once again. With that weird...animal...thing, and the strange, loud man. There was also Aizawa and another, less muscular, loud man. What was this place's obsession with loud people? It was  _rarely_ loud at Aperture. He had to hand it to GLaDOS, but then again, being isolation didn't benefit him in any way, shape, or form.  He leaned back absentmindedly in the chair, deciding to tune back into the real world, realizing that the adults were staring at him and that they were expecting some sort of answer. 

"Young man, you still haven't answered the question. The logo on your clothing, what did it mean?" The principal questioned Mathieu and Mathieu simply scowled in thought, really unsure on how to answer. He suddenly remembered, the pen that Ochako had given him. Mathieu reached forward to grab a blank sheet of paper, scribbling out an answer. 

"Hm. Well, there's something you don't find out everyday. It's a testing facility? Oh...facility is spelled wrong, no matter." The principal read over Mathieu's answer, setting the paper back down in front of the boy. Mathieu simply nodded, might as well tell them, right? It wasn't like GLaDOS would ever come back...she told him to leave, to not come back. Mathieu thought for a second or two, beginning to draw on the paper, a very vague drawing of GLaDOS, maybe the portal gun too. 

"...a robot? Huh, and...what is this...?" The adults in the room were discussing the drawings now, giving Mathieu fairly either concerned or confused looks. Mathieu stood up, picking the cube up. He gave them a wave goodbye, leaving the office before any of the adults could say anything in protest. 

He could go home now, right? Everyone kept saying he was supposed to take some exam, and he already explained where he came from, wasn't that enough? He was almost at the school's exit, that sunlight that GLaDOS had been depriving him of, and these people wouldn't deprive him of the freedom he wanted either. Just...a few more steps, and he'd be free. Sure, Mathieu had nothing but the cube and the clothes on his back, but he'd think of something! Anything! 

That was until he felt something around his leg...was that a scarf? That man, Aizawa, had that weird scarf wrapped around his leg, immobilizing him. Okay, his quirk would get him out of here. The school floor and bare walls were portal surfaces, he'd drag himself and detach himself from the man and be able to leave this school. He snapped his fingers twice, expecting two portals to appear. They didn't. He snapped his fingers again, nothing. 

Mathieu felt his mouth go dry and his stomach ached out of worry. He knew, of course, that these people had quirks. Who didn't have a quirk nowadays, but this was getting ridiculous. He didn't turn around, deciding to force himself out of the teacher's grip. GLaDOS said he was healthy enough, he should have the strength to run away...escape  _for once_ in his life. He took a forceful step forward and tried to turn and get his leg free, the quote of Cave Johnson echoing through his mind. 

 

Aizawa had caught him, not hard. Now what was hard...getting the boy back to the principal's office. Apparently, after just simply writing where he could've possibly have came from, he just got up and left. The way this boy, Mathieu, was acting...he clearly was upset. Not that he made the noise like Bakugou or anyone who was very loud when upset in any form. His body had stiffened, like he was almost...startled that he was unable to just get out so easily. 

Aizawa noticed Mathieu was thinking up some plan while struggling. The face he was able to catch a glimpse at reminded the man of Midoriya or any of his students had when coming up with some plan. The struggling suddenly stopped, Aizawa didn't let go. Clearly Mathieu must've felt threatened, Aizawa couldn't let his guard down, Mathieu had thought of something. A way to escape. 

His free foot was pressed firmly on the ground, and he turned his body, swinging his roped leg quickly. Aizawa blinked. 

The sound of the sudden head slamming into the lockers felt almost sickening. Mathieu let out a pained, but hoarse cry, sliding weakly to the floor. His eyes slowly dropped closed, there was a bit of blood on the lockers. Mathieu could only let out a wet cough before his entire world went black. 


	5. Oh, Good, You're Still Alive

Mathieu found himself slowly waking up after what felt like hours. He groaned softly, about to run his fingers through his hair before he felt a bandage. Oh, he must've passed out when he hit the lockers. His jacket was next to him and there was an...older woman next to him. She looked like a nurse, finally, someone who didn't seem too dangerous. Mathieu was about to get up, being stopped by the woman. 

"Oh, no, young man. You've got to go to the principal's office. You've been out for most of the day and apparently you're needed for something important." The woman hummed, tending to another student. Mathieu let out a breath, but nodded. He didn't want to go the principal's office. He wanted to just...leave. He didn't really have a home, but that wasn't important. He'd focus on a place to stay later. 

But, Mathieu nodded, waving goodbye to the...fairly nice woman and headed back to the principal's office. The halls were empty, class must've been going on. The halls were quiet and his footsteps echoed a little bit. It felt like Aperture. Not as lonely...but the feeling of isolation was there. 

"Oh, good, you're okay. You gave us all quite a scare when you passed out, young man." The principal greeted Mathieu with a laugh, motioning the boy to sit down. Mathieu sat down, leaning back in the chair with a slow nod. His head hurt, but he was at least listening now. The principal had prepared some tea, asking Mathieu various questions. He was a little shocked that Mathieu hadn't set off any alarms in security, although it may have mostly been because Mathieu didn't step through the actual gate.

"So, while you were out, I actually did some research on this...Aperture place, apparently it had been some sort of testing facility, although there wasn't too much information on the place. But, shockingly, someone from there did reach out to us. They said you'd be able to get any information that might be still needed, such medical records." The principal began to say, not noticing the somewhat bothered look on Mathieu's face. He continued to speak, handing Mathieu a sheet of paper. "But I think this could be a good learning experience for both Class 1-A and yourself."

Mathieu set down his tea, getting worried. He had to go  _back there?_  Was this some sort of death wish? The thought of what GLaDOS would do to him if he stepped foot back in  Aperture, would she actually kill him? And what did the principal  _mean_ by it'd be a learning experience for him and the class he had been put in? Clearly the principal had to have been joking. 

 _'What do you mean?'_ Mathieu simply wrote down, tapping his chin in thought before adding:  _'I don't know if they would allow anyone in, except for me maybe.'_

The principal nodded in thought, chuckling in thought. "Of course, but I suppose if they let you in, you can get your records and getting your exams ready will be very soon. That's all that's really important for now." The principal finished off the conversation, putting his...paw on the desk. Mathieu could only hopelessly nod, reaching for the sheet of paper again. 

 _'When will...I have to go? And them, if allowed.'_ Mathieu wrote, the principal simply hummed in thought. "Well, we do need your records ASAP, there will have to be a change in schedule so we're able to do this tomorrow." 

Mathieu nodded slowly again, that feeling of worry began to form again. The two shook hands before Mathieu was set back to class, awkwardly coming right in the middle of class. Oh joy, why not keep him in the office? Wouldn't that just be easier? Apparently not. 

 

The day went on like it did yesterday, but at least Mathieu didn't stick out like a sore thumb like yesterday. Now, excluding the companion cube which seemed to never leave his side, Mathieu looked like a normal student. 

Then came the end of the school day. Mathieu sat back somewhat and rubbed his bandaged head, still feeling worried about the apparent "class trip" to Aperture Laboratories. He actually felt a little bad for these people, he only knew them for less than a day and they were probably going to be killed. Mathieu was honestly considering on lying that Aperture needed Aperture personnel only. Then maybe, just maybe, everything would've been okay. So far...no one was talking about it. Mathieu let out a breath of slight relief, hoping that this silence would stay that way.  

"Hey, man, you look a little spaced out. You okay?" A boy with red hair patted his shoulder, giving Mathieu a reassuring look. Mathieu frowned in thought, trying to remember his name...what was it? Eric? Eji...something. Eijiro! That's what it was, hopefully. He then nodded, giving Kirishima a slight smile. "Man, must be hard bein' the new guy, huh?" The red haired student sat next to him, chuckling softly. "'course, you had to meet Bakugou the hard way. But uh...at least you'll get to train along side with the pros!" It was clear that Kirishima was trying to start some awkward conversation with the mute student, who got a nod in reply. "Anyway...uh...I should get goin', Bakugou's probably waiting for me outside." Kirishima waved goodbye with a somewhat awkward laugh. 

Not exactly conversation of the year, but at least Mathieu could be a little reassured that at least his classmates weren't probably threats. Although...Bakugou was a bit of a stretch, threat wise. But in the end, it won't matter, as long as he felt safe. 

Mathieu began to leave the classroom, clearly on edge and trying to leave as fast as he could. Maybe he could spend the night at a police station, just somewhere to stay until he could find a better place. His stomach was in knots and his head hurt from all the things he had to think about. Mathieu seriously was regretting on not thinking ahead when how to survive in the outside world. Everything was happening way too fast, from being a new student to having to see... _her_ tomorrow. 

 

But Mathieu didn't seem to have a choice anymore. It was this...or well, he didn't really want to think about what would happen if he rejected this opportunity. He let out a nervous breath, hoping to find some sort of shelter to prepare himself mentally for the dreaded day of tomorrow. 


	6. Welcome, and Again, Welcome to Aperture

Meanwhile, after school, the teachers had been called for a staff meeting. 

 

"We still don't know a thing about this kid, and it doesn't exactly help that he either can't speak or won't speak." One of the teachers ,Cementoss, spoke up. The others nodded. "Yeah, but from what I've seen..." another teacher, Present Mic, loudly of course , began to say, turning to Aizawa. "He does seem to be drawn you out of all of us! Or, well, doesn't glare at us when we  _try_ to help him." 

The others, except for Aizawa, nodded again. "Well, wherever he must've came from gave him trust issues. I don't think I've ever seen any student, or any person for that matter, afraid of heroes." All-Might added, getting confused looks now. "Oh, you saw that step thing too. Clearly trying to be dominant, he was even treating that...cube thing like it was a real person. He clearly has no people skills." Midnight spoke up, sighing and shaking her head. 

"Well, I'm sure taking them to Aperture will able to break any trust issues he'll have with us." The principal, Nezu, chimed in, folding his paws together. "Good luck with that. He only trusts me because I didn't make myself look threatening. Or, he thought I wouldn't do anything to him...at first." Aizawa sighed, shaking his head. Something about this Aperture Laboratories just didn't sit right with him, especially if Mathieu didn't seem trust any of the adults  _and_ he just looked...well, lost when surrounded by people. 

"Ah, yes, you told me about that. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad. But suddenly being able to use his quirk again must've put him through some kind of shock." Recovery Girl hummed softly, shaking her head also. "Maybe I should come with them, you never know what could happen." All-Might muttered, mostly to himself with a tone of clear concern. 

The meeting quickly ended after that, the teachers and staff went home. But, Aizawa nor All-Might were able to sleep soundly that night. 

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Mathieu found himself back outside of U.A, letting out a heavy sigh. The school had given him a special card so the alarm systems wouldn't go off when he would attempt to enter the school again. Mathieu also had the Companion Cube with him again, he had gotten many strange looks from the police when trying to ask if he could stay for the night. He let out a sigh, glancing back at the outside world, feeling the dread of it being the last time he'd be able to the see the sun again. Those poor...poor students. 

Mathieu slowly went down the hallway, cube on his back and palms covered in sweat. He put his hand on the door to class 1-A, oh great, people were already inside. After an anxious gulp of air, Mathieu stood up straight, walking into the classroom and sat in his seat. Maybe if he were lucky enough, they'd only let  _him_ in. 

"So we're supposed to be going to another training facility, I've heard." A refined looking girl spoke up, she was talking to another girl who looked very...pink. "Yeah! I can't wait to see what it's like, apparently it's where the new guy came from!" 

Oh even better, apparently most of the class knew now. Mathieu let out a hoarse groan, covering his face with his hands. Clearly today was not going to go well for anyone. Maybe Mathieu could portal himself into space again...he could get out of the mess  _and_ not have to see GLaDOS. But it was sunny, fate was never on his side.  

"Wonder what it's like, I mean, the guy came here with a weird outfit and that cube thing. It's gotta be some weird science place." A blonde boy, a little on the...well, he seemed friendlier, added with a laugh. "Well, try not to spark yourself out here. You'll probably cause some power outage." Another girl, with odd looking ears, sighed with an eye roll. 

All the conversations in the room were suddenly cut off by the loud voice of none other than Tenya Iida. "Everyone! Class is about to begin, and we should all be in our assigned seats!" 

Mathieu held in an uneasy breath, trying relax himself for when he saw the teacher, Aizawa, walk into the room. The class suddenly went quiet, excluding the soft movement of chairs and pencils. 

"So as you all know, we'll be going to a new training facility. It should be similar to the USJ, but keep in mind that anything could happen." Aizawa explained with his usual tired voice. The students were whispering among each other again. Mathieu could only slowly nod, watching the students get into line to head outside. He grabbed the Companion Cube, joining the other 1-A students, wondering how they were so calm. Sure, they had no idea what they were getting into, but come on, weren't they in the least a little concerned on what Aperture was about? 

 

* * *

 

There was a bus outside, and of course the students were climbing into it. Mathieu, of course, was the last to get on. He sat in the back, cube next to him, and pulled his knees up to his chest. Mathieu wasn't going to admit this, but the bus felt oddly nice. The occasional bumps did startle him, but it...felt like the elevators, it made him tired...so, like in the elevators, he quickly fell asleep. 

 

"I wonder what this place will be like. I don't believe any well-known heroes came from this...Aperture place." Izuku muttered to himself, flipping through his notes to find...well, nothing about Aperture Science. Uraraka leaned over, tilting her head a bit. "Well, it probably can't be too bad. Mathieu looks like he probably does all sorts of training, so maybe it's similar to U.A?" Izuku frowned, but nodded slightly. 

"Yeah...but something isn't adding up. Why would he come here? I mean, especially since he didn't have an ID or uniform, so he can't be a transfer." He slowly said, mostly to himself, glancing over to the sleeping boy. The cube was next to him, and his over sized uniform made it clear that Mathieu probably, if possible, didn't mean to appear in U.A. More like...it was just to be some sort of safe haven, maybe? 

"Clearly if it's a training facility, at least one hero had to have come out of it. Or, maybe, it's a place where research is done on future heroes to make them better. It'd only make sense that we'd be heading there so we can get the experience of seeing our strengths and weaknesses put to good use." Tenya added, pushing up his glasses. That explanation made a little more sense. "Yeah, you might be right, Tenya. That's probably it." 

The bus ride went on as it usually did, lots of arguments between some student and Bakugou, and the usual chatter among friends. It was so peaceful...or it was, until the bus stopped. 

Mathieu slowly woke up with a soft yawn, shaking his head to glance out the window. There it was, the dreaded Aperture Science. In the middle of nowhere, of course. Most of the students were slowly trickling out of the bus and staring at the somewhat large, but old looking building. 

" _This_ is Aperture? Doesn't look very safe." One of the students, the one with the tail, spoke up with a hand on his hip. "Yeah, ribbit, are you sure this is the right place, Mister Aizawa?" Another student added, the frog girl...what was her name? Asui? 

Well, it didn't matter at the moment, since soon all the students of 1-A were in line for Aperture Science Laboratories. 

 

The building entrance was old, and covered in dust. The lights were off, so it was fairly dark. Well, if one excluded the usage of quirks being used to light up the way. Clearly the building hadn't been used in years. 

"You sure this a training facility? I mean, there's no one here..." Eijiro sighed, glancing around in the darkness. The other students halfheartedly agreed. "Can't believe we were dragged out here for nothing. Waste of time." Bakugou grumbled to himself, bitterly crossing his arms. 

Aizawa let out a heavy sigh, was this all for nothing? Nezu said apparently someone had contacted him, but that would imply that people were actually...well, _in_ the building. He was too tired to deal with any of this, and it wasn't helping that he failed to notice the new student was planning something. 

Mathieu felt like he wanted to cry, or run away. He was...back, after all that he did to let GLaDOS let him leave. And it wasn't helping that his new class was wandering straight to her chamber. Or, well, some chamber. He knew the halls tended to be an annoying maze at times. But...something in him told him to go straight to her chamber. He took a challenging step forward, not knowing it did catch the attention of someone. 

All-Might took notice, nudging the tired teacher to observe what Mathieu would do next. Of course, the two teachers were not expecting the boy to suddenly shove past all the students, quickly running ahead. Did he know where he was going? The group of students followed Mathieu, until he stopped in front of a large elevator. They all, somehow, managed to get inside. Thankfully the elevator had  _plenty_ of room, it'd be awkward if it didn't. 

But, soon Mathieu felt the familiar feeling of the elevator stopping. They were at one of the test chambers, Mathieu took out a deep breath, stepping out of the elevator and ignoring the confused and worried looks of his classmates, also ignoring the sudden gasps of shock. 

 

"Woah...it...are you  _really_ sure this is a training facility?" One of the students, Denki Kaminari, sounded fairly surprised. The class of 1-A were nearly all out of the elevator, before they heard a sudden, but startling voice. 

 

"Hello and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GLaDOS is finally gonna show up :3!!
> 
> Hopefully though this chapter doesn't feel _too_ rushed-


	7. Well, You're Back. Was It Worth It?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so nothing is too confusing, the entire POV is with Mathieu, so that's why some characters have their first named used while others have their last names used
> 
> If a first name is used, then it means Mathieu probably trusts them more, or they told him their name.

Mathieu let out a soft sigh, remembering back to that sound. The same vocal tone, similar to when GLaDOS had tried to dump him in the incinerator. It sent a chill up his spine, before he noticed a security camera. Should he destroy it? Be the apparent "dangerous mute lunatic" he had been assigned to be? 

_Yes._

The class only took note of what he was doing, seeing the now broken security camera fall to their feet and the voice came back on. 

"Vital testing apparatus destro- no. Wait a second." The voice had switched, sounding less artificial and more...self aware. Mathieu was just standing there, innocently. Or well, innocent enough for someone to speak up. 

"What sort of place did you just get us involved in?! Clearly this place is no training facility and it is now obvious that this place does  _not_ research heroes!" Tenya was the first to scold Mathieu, only getting an eye roll in reply. Wow, it took them this long? What gave it away? The robotic voice whose source could kill them or all the dust and grime? 

Mathieu shook his head, walking away the scolding student. "Hey, mute idiot, you just gonna walk away like that?!" Bakugou was next to scream out, about to run up to the mute student before the voice came back on. 

"What a surprise, and after I told you to leave. I suppose you love testing that much. I'd love it too, if you hadn't killed me then. We could've been testing until you died, but  _no_. You had to be the hero." The voice was clearly bitter, not seeming too fond of Mathieu. However, it was  _pretty_ shocking to hear from anyone on apparently this boy had murdered someone. Whoever the source of this voice was...were they dead? 

Although, being in the same room as an apparent murderer had not sunk into the explosive student as Bakugou rushed forward, running into Mathieu. Mathieu fell back, head ramming into the wall. Not hard enough to cause any damage, but boy did it hurt fairly badly. 

"Oh, what a surprise. You brought more test subjects, more  _unnecessary_ space. I suppose yes, you do have some...cases of brain damage, but I've stated many times I have all the test subjects I need. These new ones will be the fat that you once were, and well, still are." The voice continued on, showing its bitterness to the new arrivals. It did not generate...positive reactions, of course, but that was too be expected. 

"So, our new little arrival is an apparent murderer. Either whoever's speaking is that bitter about him, or he actually did kill someone. Explains why he arrived with so...little." Aizawa mumbled to All-Might, shaking his head a bit and watched his students, well, overreact in his opinion. Frankly, he spoke in a similar fashion, but apparently his students never could see through his harsh words of encouragement. 

All-Might nodded slowly, mostly confused of the situation. He wasn't going to jump to conclusions and assume that Mathieu did kill, or attempt to,  whoever the source of the voice. But something felt so...off about this. Clearly, unlike the class of 1-A, Mathieu was just taking the insults like it was nothing. Sure, yeah, he was mute. But...it was clear to the older hero that Mathieu was probably used to hearing this sort of talk. 

"Well, I might as well get a better look what the new test subjects look like. Just get back into the elevator, and we'll continue our little...talk. Trust me, it'll be easier for the both of us if you just do what I say." The voice ended, and the elevator opened back up. "They...they want  _us_ to come s-see...whatever that was?" One of the students, Toru, stuttered out, clearly uneasy to go see the source of the voice and be in the elevator with Mathieu again. 

Mathieu simply scoffed to himself, seeing no way to escape. This was a cube and button test, so no real way to escape unless he somehow broke down the wall. He let out an annoyed groan, reluctantly stepping into the elevator, motioning the class to join him. "S-so you uh...didn't really kill someone...d-did you?" Izuku slowly spoke up, laughing awkwardly.  

Mathieu didn't answer, hands pressed against the glass of the elevator, looking bothered. He turned to face Izuku, shaking his head. He didn't really murder anyone, did robots really count anyway? But...it wasn't like these people would believe him anyway.

The elevator shook him out of his thoughts, watching the students, some fairly nervously, leave the elevator. Mathieu stepped out, walking down the hallway to GLaDOS' chamber. If she were human, he could almost sense her annoyance that he had returned. The students had stopped, standing in the little office that had been rebuilt, the computers were...working. Maybe it was just a way to code the two robots she had to do the testing? Whatever the reason was, Mathieu had a feeling he could probably benefit from it. Somehow.

* * *

 

"Well, you're back. You haven't changed a bit. You're still horribly impulsive and your clothes still look stupid." There was GLaDOS, still huge and in one piece. She chuckled softly, looking down at the group of children and the two adults. "And these...new subjects, I suppose I could have some sort of test thrown together. But it requires collaboration, a trait that I'm sure all of you lack." She casually commented, turning her attention to the two teachers. 

"Oh. You're the man who...no. You aren't him, anyway, what do you even want? I told you to not come back, or did your...little space adventure make you forget everything I told you?" GLaDOS began to say, referring to Aizawa. Mathieu frowned, glancing back to the computers, leaving her chamber. 

" _Hey._ Where are you going? You better not touch anything, I'd kill you, but you'd probably escape it and try to kill me...again. And after I had called you...my friend. What a backstabber." She suddenly said, ignoring the surprised looks of the students and the confused expressions on the teachers. 

 

"W-what are they...she...talking about? What kind of place is this?" One of the students quietly spoke up, Todoroki, watching the determined looking boy leave. Clearly, finding out that this...robot was very bitter about Mathieu was pretty surprising, and that he...went to  _space?_ What was that all about? Mathieu simply ignored all the students, and teachers, typing into the computer. 

 

"I  _told you_ not to touch anythin- w-woah...woah...okay. You're speaking to me. Glad to know you at least can spell...well enough." GLaDOS began to scold, stuttering before going back to normal. She still sounded annoyed, but there was a bit of amusement laced in. Mathieu rolled his eyes, continuing to type out everything he wanted her to know. 

"How interesting, I guess you  _were_ listening to me. Fine, I'll give you the records. Just leave, unfortunately, I know all about your...destructive nature." GLaDOS bitterly said, clearly done with the amount of people in her chamber. "Trust me, it'll be easier for the both of us and...well, their lungs, if you take your records and go." She partially rambled, allowing the mute boy to take his records...before he typed in  _one_ more thing. 

"What? You want to use the Aperture Science fund? Fine. Go ahead." GLaDOS sounded surprised, but accepted. "Just don't go crazy, unfortunately Mr. Johnson nor Caroline left enough money for you to spend it on...whatever people like you spend it on. But, get in the elevator. Just  _leave_. Try not to launch yourself into space again." GLaDOS ended the conversation, pulling up the elevator, watching the class leave.

 

She sighed heavily, not knowing where she went wrong. No, where Cave Johnson or any of the scientists went wrong. But that teacher...that tired looking man, he was so familiar looking. But who did he remind her of? Well, it didn't matter anymore, they were gone now. She could go back to testing, hopefully in peace like she had been doing earlier. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What if...Wheatley comes back...and lives with Mathieu...
> 
> haha just kidding...
> 
> unless...:3


	8. She Knows You're There, She Can Feel You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter :D!! Sorry if it feels kinda rushed, I wanted to try and squeeze in some characters, sorry if they're kinda ooc tho

All the 1-A students were back on the bus, sitting somewhat away from Mathieu, cautiously staring at him. So many things were being learned, not about being a hero. No, about this new student. The records hadn't been read over yet, but something about how GLaDOS and Mathieu seemed to treat each other, would U.A even be the place for him?

"S-so...you really uh...you didn't kill anyone, right?" One the students, the electric one...Kaminari, awkwardly laughed. Mathieu glanced up, oh yeah, he could write his answers. He got out his pen, scribbling out his answer. 

 _"She killed me first, not my fault she tried to dump me in a fiery place."_ Mathieu wrote out, giving up on trying to spell incinerator, they'd get the picture. He gave the class a shrug, leaning back, not noticing the confused looks. 

"A fiery place? What...what kind of place could that be?" Tsuyu frowned in thought, getting a sigh from Izuku. "Clearly different from what we've ever done, did you  _see_ how huge that robot was?!" Mina exclaimed, using her hands to emphasize how small everyone must've felt compared to GLaDOS. "Apparently Mister Aizawa reminded them of someone, I wonder who it could've been." Iida added, leaning back in thought also, glancing at the mute boy. 

"Well, must've been pretty bad. I mean, come on! There was no one there! No one to greet us, and the lights were off!" Kaminari added with the same enthusiasm as Mina had. "Tch, can't even take a punch. That extra is just gonna slow me down. Like the rest of you." Bakugou mumbled, mostly to himself with a scowl and his arms crossed. The conversation continued on until the bus arrived back to U.A. If it hadn't been for the experience of almost being able to test until the students could test no more, this would've been a waste of time. 

* * *

"Well" Aizawa began to say to Principal Nezu, stepping into the office with Mathieu's records in hand. "We were able to get the records, he should be able to take the exam without little to no issue."  

The principal nodded, briefly glancing over the paperwork, setting the records down. "So, how was the training? Were the students able to work well in a new environment?" He asked, noticing the slight change in expression on Aizawa's face. "You seem uneasy now, sit down, did something happen to one of the students? Or...well, our new student?" Nezu asked with a slight head tilt. 

"I'm not sure, no one was in the building, but... _something_. Apparently, there was a large...still functioning machine in Aperture, it didn't exactly seem to pleased for us nor Mathieu to be there. Especially not Mathieu." Aizawa found himself struggle to explain. He didn't know why...but it felt somewhat unsettling to be looked down upon like that. He had most of his bones broken, by something that clearly couldn't have been human. So why was he so unsettled now? 

Was he actually worried about this boy? The boy who just...appeared with no reason or context. 

"Oh dear, well, thankfully none of the students got hurt. Perhaps the building got shut down before our new student arrived here, but that leads to even more questions..." Nezu frowned, putting a paw on his chin. He wasn't going to question it this time. Perhaps it was best if they just focused on the more.... _important_ issues at hand. 

"Well, we should start registering him in. Hopefully he will be able to get along well with the other students and train to become an excellent hero." The principal and teacher shook hands, and Aizawa began to leave. He glanced down at his empty palm...before sighing. He was thinking too much about this topic, Nezu was right. This boy was training to be a hero. None of them had time to find out the reasoning of what Mathieu had gotten himself into, for now. 

Now, the new student had a lot of prepping to do. 

* * *

Class 1-A was back in their classroom, mostly trying to act casual. Yeah, pretend like they weren't just face to face with a giant robot. Yup, nothing wrong there. 

"Man! You'd think with all those robots they make us fight, I never thought I'd actually be terrified of one!" Kirishima joked, leaning back in his seat. "Yeah, sent chills down my spine. Although...man, I wonder if that guy had deal with 'em 24/7!" Sero added with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. The two glanced at Mathieu for a second, before going back to some casual conversation about who knows what. 

Mathieu let out a sigh, he didn't blame them for being shocked. He was just glad that GLaDOS didn't kill them. That'd be hard to explain to the principal. Very hard. He was about to put his head down for a second or two, before hearing familiar footsteps. 

"Hey! Mathieu!" Ochako ran up to him at his desk with a smile, Midoriya and Iida were there with her. "That Aperture place sure was weird, huh? And that robot..." She began to say, shuddering a bit. Mathieu could only nod in response, they hadn't seen the worst of GLaDOS. "You know, I can't stop thinking about what she said..." Midoriya sighed softly, Mathieu could only hold his breath, wondering what the green haired boy was going to say. 

_"Did...did you really go to space?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that feeling when you're the only one in your class who went to space though


	9. Four Step Plan for U.A, One: Take the Exam

Mathieu sat up straight, looking confused. What did he mean, " _Did you really go to space?_ " The boy glanced down at the blank sheet of paper in front of him, slowly writing out his answer. 

 

 _"Yeah, I did. It was very...bad."_ He wrote out, not really sure what emotion fit his space experience. To most kids, a trip to space sounded awesome! Lucky, in fact. But...Mathieu didn't think being sucked through a portal to space sounded as fun...it sounded painful, if anything else. Mathieu let out a soft sigh, handing Midoriya the sheet of paper, staring at the trio to see their reactions. 

Midoriya went quiet, and Iida was oddly quiet. Ochako looked fairly surprised, like she really wanted to say something, but couldn't. Mathieu stood up, tapping the sheet of paper with his pen. They were the ones who asked, why were they so shocked? He opened his mouth, making an annoyed sounding noise and tapped the paper a little harder. Once the paper was out of the green haired boy's hand, he made an odd noise...similar to the noise someone made when they were about to cry. 

"I...I c-can't believe it...this...this c-can't be true..." His voice was quiet, but it shook. And it caught the attention of some of the students. "Hey, Izuku, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Yaoyorozu walked over, noticing the crumpled up sheet of paper on Mathieu's desk. "He...he...they weren't lying..." Midoriya stuttered out, before Iida pulled himself together and quickly cut in. 

"It doesn't seem very logical that he would've gone to space! For starters, the place where he supposedly came from had no mention of a space program!" Iida said, as if to convince himself that what Mathieu had answered with wasn't true. Ochako was still in shock, not even sure whether she should even try to deny the information. 

"You...you can't be serious, it's...it's impossible...r-right?" Sero awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. Mathieu just shrugged in reply, not pushing the topic on. But...that didn't mean the class as a  _whole_ was done with it.  

"Seriously, it doesn't seem real. How would he even breath in space?" Mathieu heard the class mumble among themselves, along with other things like: "The guy looks kinda...unfitting for space." and "I bet that giant robot was just pulling our legs, there's no way  _he_ could've gone to space." 

The conversation of Mathieu's space adventure continued on, until Aizawa returned back to class. Mathieu could only let out a soft groan, feeling the questioning gazes of class 1-A staring right at him. He really didn't understand what the big deal really was, maybe they'd forget about it within a week...hopefully. 

* * *

It had been a week since Mathieu started attending U.A. So far, with the aid of a  _lot_ of sleepless nights, caffeine, and other things Mathieu was too tired to think about, he had  _finally_ managed to get an apartment. It was under GLaDOSs', or well, Gladys's name. Just in time too, the boy was getting tired of the weird looks from having to sleep in police stations because he didn't have the money for a hotel. 

Mathieu tiredly arrived to his new school, carefully cleaning the boots he, unfortunately, had to take off. He was given a pair of normal shoes that fit better, but they felt so...odd against his feet. He knew that these shoes would not allow him to stand through a high drop from above, but...the school gave them to him, so he wore them. 

Mathieu slowly shuffled to his class, gripping the bag that he had bought the day before. It had the pen Ochako had given him, a few journals with an extra for when he needed to speak, and a Rubik's cube. At least today Mathieu was on time for class, for once. 

Unfortunately, Mathieu was required to stop by the principal's office in the morning for the past week. Since his records were officially in the system, Mathieu had to take the U.A entrance exam, since he didn't have any recommendations to back him up. Plus...it was very unlikely that GLaDOS would try to help him out with that. Thank goodness everyone seemed to forget about her during the week. 

 

So far, Mathieu was catching up with the rest of the class. Not as fast as the teachers would like, but he definitely was getting  _somewhere_. But then came a few issues. 

First, the entrance exam. If Mathieu managed to get into U.A with no issue, then maybe he'd be able to pass the exam with little to no issue too. Then came his hero costume, he looked confused when the topic was brought up, only writing jumpsuit and boots on the sheet of paper that had been given to him. And the issue of internships...that was not going to be easy. Mathieu wasn't at U.A during the sports festival, and his overall distrust of new people would hinder his ability to even find someone that his quirk could benefit. Having to pick his code name would be coming up soon, did Mathieu even have one in mind? 

The thoughts of what this new student had to do, and in so little time too, it was starting to get overwhelming. Hopefully Mathieu would be willing to cooperate. 

* * *

Today was the day. Today was the day that Mathieu was to take the entrance exam. He had been given a special uniform, allowed to wear his long fall boots too. He took in a nervous breath, not sure what to expect. It was a  _test_. The word test left an uneasy feeling in Mathieu's stomach, that word did not exactly...mix well with the boy. 

But, maybe this time it would be different. Midoriya and his classmates must've taken the exam too, and  _they_ were still alive. 

 

He walked into where his exam would be held...a city? Well, it was more open than one of the test chambers at Aperture. Well, maybe one of the teachers would show up and tell him what to do. 

He decided to examine his surroundings, the ground and maybe the sides of building would be good portal surfaces. Maybe. Mathieu continued to walk somewhat aimlessly, suddenly heard faint rumbling, slowly getting louder.

 

He took an uneasy step back, slowly glancing up to see...a  _giant robot?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Mathieu is finally taking the entrance exam and has a proper home! Hopefully the beginning isn't too rushed, but you know how kids are. You got to space once, and then suddenly everyone asks you every five minutes if it's true or not


	10. If the Laws of Physics Don't Apply to the Exam, Then So Help Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so yeah Mathieu has taken the entrance exam! 
> 
> Uhh hopefully this isn't _ooc_ , since I mean, it's only one person instead of multiple people

Mathieu stood there in slight shock. He unconsciously held his breath, anticipating for the announcement that the area going to be flooded with neurotoxins. But...he was glad it wasn't shooting him with rockets...or bombs. 

He took a step back, and his head began to hurt. This was supposed to be the exam? What kind of exam used huge, and most likely deadly, robots to test their students? 

Suddenly, a loud, but peppy, voice came on over the intercom. Mathieu wasn't really paying attention to it, mostly looking for some way to escape now. He heard snippets of that he was  _supposed_ to destroy the robot. Apparently if he received enough points, he'd pass the test with ease. 

He slowed down, looking at the robots with slight uneasiness. Except for maybe crushing him, they didn't seem...too deadly. Mathieu was also glad that he hadn't heard anything about the area being filed with anything else that could kill him, leaving him a space to focus on how to solve this...test. 

Mathieu glanced around, noticing the surface of the buildings. They were flat and wide....wide enough for a portal. While Mathieu was mostly trying to avoid the robots, he thought back to Aperture. He thought as hard as he could, remembering...momentum. 

He glanced back, finding a spot on the building and firing a portal onto the ground, hopping into it to launch...well, himself at these new opponents. 

* * *

"So, how's he doing out there?" All Might asked, noticing Present Mic and Aizawa observing the cameras that tracked Mathieu's progress. Aizawa glanced up, sighing softly. 

 

"He's doing fine." Aizawa began to say, casually glancing over at one of the cameras. "Doing better than expected, at least." Currently, Mathieu had managed to rack up a suitable score. However, the two teachers were not expecting the boy to literally fling himself into each robot like it was nothing. Although, all quirks were different. The tired teacher really shouldn't have just assumed that the boy's fighting style would be similar to ones like Todoroki or even Momo. 

But, after the exam, would be a well needed trip to see Recovery Girl. Present Mic and Aizawa couldn't help but flinch slightly at how recklessly Mathieu was fighting.

"He should be able to pass! He's a natural at usin' the power of physics on his side!" Present Mic suddenly chimed in, pointing to the monitor of Mathieu, once again, flinging himself into one of his portals. "Yeah, seems to be good at using his environment." All Might began to say, pulling up a chair. "He's less wary of us now. He doesn't seem to be challenging you two, is he?" 

Present Mic and Aizawa turned to face the blond man, shaking their heads. "No, but he is more...expressive. He looked annoyed when the students were speaking to him...something about space..." Well, at least Mathieu wasn't shying away from any of the students. Sure, he often looked confused whenever they asked him about Aperture, or well, anything really. None of the teachers really stepped in, mostly assuming it was just normal and shy behavior. 

"Should we tell him he's almost done with the test?" All Might suddenly asked, after ten minutes more of staring at the camera monitors. The two other teachers quietly nodded, before Present Mic turned the intercom back on. 

"Yo! Alright, your exam is over! Just stop by the nurse's office while we check out your score!!" Present Mic said, a little too loud for Aizawa's liking. 

But...Mathieu didn't respond, at least not right away. He did stop though, glancing up with an obviously tired look on his face. He actually looked a little troubled, mostly blindly wandering around the exam area before  _finally_ finding the exit. Not that the teachers were...waiting or anything. Besides, the exam area had to have been bigger than the Aperture testing areas. Right?

* * *

Mathieu had headed to Recovery Girl's office with a slight limp in his step. He was annoyed, miscalculating a jump and landed on his knee instead of the boots. Seriously, it was embarrassing. 

"Oh, hey Mathieu! You finally took your exam, right?" Midoriya had noticed him in the hallway, running up to him. He limped forward, clearing his throat awkwardly to give the green haired boy a slow, but somewhat jerky nod. Well, at least Midoriya gave him a look of sympathy, looking ready to help Mathieu limp all the way to Recovery Girl. 

"Hopefully you aren't...um...too injured." Midoriya suddenly spoke up, mostly speaking to himself since Mathieu was more focused on other things. Important things like examining his surroundings to make  _sure_ that this really was the end of the exam. "My arm was really messed up when I first used my quirk...I think I was in Recovery Girl's office almost everyday!" He had added, laughing a bit before turning to Mathieu. "Oh, here we are! I have to get back to class, see you, Mathieu!" 

Mathieu quietly watched Midoriya leave, sighing softly and glancing down at his leg, which had began to swell. He frowned at the sight, maybe he should make the nurse's job a little easier by removing his boots? 

Well, might as well get it over with. Mathieu leaned against the wall, awkwardly tugging one of the long fall boots off. He groaned softly in pain, limping into the small office. 

 

Well, at least Recovery Girl seemed nice enough. He awkwardly sat down in front of her, hearing her tsk softly. "Your teacher told me this would happen, at least it's only your leg so far." She casually spoke, noticing Mathieu slowly zone out. 

She had moved him over to one of the tables, preparing him for the healing process to begin.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Just Aperture Things~
> 
> Flinging yourself into giant robots and hoping you don't die


	11. Do Whatever You do When You're Not Testing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda short chapter I think, hope y'all enjoy~

Mathieu rubbed his cheek awkwardly from the kiss. Recovery Girl had mentioned it was to speed up healing. Sure, right. 

 

He waved the nurse goodbye, after nodding at her instruction to be careful not to put too much pressure on his leg. He didn't put his boot back on, especially since the first time he cried out in pain. Recovery Girl didn't seem surprised by the reaction, since his leg was a little too swollen to have the form fitting boot to squeeze his injuries. 

Mathieu, with his boot in his arm, hobbled back to class. Wasn't that were he was supposed to go next? He didn't bother to change out of his, very sweaty, uniform. Not because he didn't have his other clothes with him at the moment and he didn't have normal looking clothes. 

He panted softly with his hand pressed against the door of his class, already exhausted from feeling the effects of Recovery Girl and how his cells were hard at work on repairing his injury. He swallowed the pool of spit in his mouth, not caring about the students staring at him sit down at his desk like nothing happened. 

The boy looked half dead, mostly bobbing his head somewhat in a poor attempt to keep himself awake to pay attention to the lesson. That was what he was supposed to do, right? Frankly, to say that Mathieu was drained to the point of needing to be dragged back to the nurse's office was an understatement. But, despite how tired he was, Mathieu refused to get up. 

* * *

 

Thankfully by the time the school day was officially over, the swelling in Mathieu's knee had gone down to the point where he could wear his boots again. Could he now walk properly? Not really, but he was going to walk home even if it was the last thing he did! Mathieu ignored the looks of confusion and sympathy, dragging himself to the...bus stop. Okay, Mathieu admittedly couldn't walk  _all_ the way home.

It definitely gave him time to ponder his new life. It was...different, and a little nice. Sure, being introduced to new people and new tasks coming at him was very overwhelming. But...something about these people...about U.A, he felt so...safe? The students, even when being asked about space for the thousandth time, made him feel more... _normal_. The teachers too, sure they didn't seem to understand him at all, but something about them...more emotional than GLaDOS, for sure. 

He snapped out of his mini trance, climbing onto the bus to head home and get the rest he  _dearly_ needed. 

* * *

Today was Sunday. Or, at least that what it said on the calendar. And on the phone that he, reluctantly, had bought. So it was Sunday. 

There was no school today, Mathieu let out a slight sigh of relief. He had homework to do, but that could be done later. Mathieu was going to enjoy his moments of freedom. But what to do? He was so used to testing, days were a literal blur and he forgot that the concept of time existed. 

The companion cube was next to him, maybe the cube and the boy could just...sit there. Do nothing, it wouldn't hurt anyone, right? He let out a tired breath, glancing out the window, wondering what his classmates were doing. Hopefully they were safe...well, safe enough.

Mathieu fiddled with his Rubik's cube nervously, glancing around the barren apartment. Maybe he should check the mail? He noticed most people who lived here often did that, maybe there'd be something there today? 

He slipped on his boots, and some...normal-ish looking clothes. It was at least better than walking around in his school uniform or Aperture Science clothing, but that wasn't important now. Mathieu had his mission, heading to the mailbox to see if anything was there. 

Was this epic and exciting like the exam had been? No, of course not. But it was better than sitting around all day in silence. He was free from testing, but at what cost? The outside world...although exciting, got sort of boring if one didn't have something to do. 

 

Outside the apartment was quiet, except for the usual outside noises of cars and birds. Mathieu opened his mailbox, eyes widened at the sight of a letter.  _Actual mail?_   To say that Mathieu wasn't shocked was an understatement. He felt...a little excited, wanting to rip open the envelope to see who it was from. But he stopped himself. No. Wait until heading back inside, then he'd open the mysterious letter. 

Once the boy was back in the safety of his home, he sat back next to the companion cube and eagerly opened the letter. A few sheets of paper were stuffed inside, seeming to be some application forms and the main message of the letter. Mathieu set the two forms down next to him, unfolding the main part of the letter. 

So far, not something from Aperture Science. Good. He let out a sigh of relief, suddenly noticing the seal on the letter. Mathieu couldn't help but let out a little gasp, his school, U.A had given him this letter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of a filler chapter this time, uhh still not sure if I should add Wheatley, but if he physically doesn't show up, then he'll most likely be referenced.


	12. Here are the Test Results: You're a Student

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little difficult to write ngl, but I hope y'all enjoy!

Mathieu was extremely confused. Why was his school sending him a letter? Didn't they get all the information they needed? 

But, he read over the letter, wondering what it said. The usual things of what U.A was about and other...boring things. Until he got to the end. 

The end of the letter was like one of those usual letters stating what someone would need for the school, explaining that Mathieu had to fill out both documents, one for his hero costume, and some other document that had to do with...well, Mathieu would get back to that one later. 

But, basically, Mathieu was now an official student at U.A!

He eagerly showed the letter to the companion cube, rocking back and forth on his heels. Being a student now was good! It meant he could stay! But...what if it was all a trap, like with GLaDOS? How she had tricked him many times, more ways than he could really remember. 

No. He had to relax, this was U.A. Sure, he barely knew about the school. But...if his new frie- classmates were still around, then it had to be okay, right? He just had to relax. But now what? What was a newly approved student supposed to do? Besides filling out boring paperwork, Mathieu was clueless. 

He sat back down, fiddling his Rubik's cube nervously. So many things to do and think about, and in only one day. He started off with the documents, tapping his leg in thought as he carefully wrote out any and all answers. Next, his homework. Very boring, yes, but Mathieu didn't want to think about the consequences of failing a, in his eyes, simple task. 

Before he knew it, Mathieu was back at school. He was anxious, despite being at U.A for a week or so. He was...a student, just like the others in his class. He had to be normal. He wasn't a test subject anymore. 

Despite building up this new life, Mathieu found himself getting bored quickly. Listening to teachers go on about some subject he didn't fully understand was boring. Sure, there were a few subjects that Mathieu enjoyed. Such as physics. But it may have only been because of the fact he was forced to use it for so long. 

Mathieu was used to moving a lot. Nothing but training and testing. Aperture had him on his feet almost 24/7, if he didn't have human needs, surely GLaDOS would've had him test all the time. But U.A was the opposite. It seemed like U.A had Mathieu just...sit, listening to Aizawa go on some lecture about heroes. But, despite how boring everything was, Mathieu stayed awake. He didn't want to give up this opportunity that had just been handed to him. 

It would've been like giving up his favorite food, he'd have to be stupid to give something like that up. And Mathieu wasn't stupid. Right? 

He flipped to a blank page in his notebook, beginning to mindlessly write and draw. With his halfhearted notes, he tried to remember the drawings on the wall of Aperture. They were drawn by...a scientist. He was sure of it, but who? Do...Rat...? Something that had "Rat" in the name. Well, whoever they were, they sure drew a lot. 

Soon enough, Mathieu heard fingers snapping by his ear to get his attention. He quickly sat up, glancing around and was fairly startled. He let out a breath, quickly closing the notebook that was now less notes and more abstract drawings, slowly glancing up at the scolding teacher. Of course, Mr Aizawa. The man looked irritated, but it was more a...concerned irritation, like he was worried for the student. 

The class was painfully quiet, and Mathieu didn't like it at all. His chest tightened a bit, getting more and more nervous. What should he do?

"...try and focus, if this happens again, you'll have to see me after class." Aizawa simply said, going back to the lesson. 

That wasn't relaxing to hear? Mathieu got even more nervous, tapping his thigh with worry. Right, focus on the boring lesson. He didn't want to stay after class, that had to be more boring that actually focusing. He let out a breath, just keep writing like the other students.

A month or so had passed now, but Mathieu was not adjusting as well as anyone expected him to. Yes, he did his work. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact he was often clueless on what to do, he probably would've been a natural at the classwork given to him. It was just...everything else. Especially his social skills. 

The odd drawings in his journal, although only being seen by a second or so, were way more common. Mathieu often closed his journal before any of his teachers could question, quickly writing an apology and turning back to the lesson. 

Plus, it wasn't exactly like the teachers could go back to Aperture and question GLaDOS about Mathieu's behavior. Aizawa could understand why Mathieu was reluctant to listen to his teachers for that reason, their roles were probably similar to GLaDOS. 

Mathieu also was an escape artist, a pretty good one at that. Every time Mathieu was assigned to go against another student, teacher, or even to face off a mock villain, he never really fought. Maybe a quick distraction using his portals to make his opponents focus on making sure they're safe. That's when he made a run for it, running off in the other direction to escape...whether it be from the fight or just out of the area. 

He was nimble, nimble enough to both run and think at the same time. Just like in the entrance exam, Mathieu would fling himself out of danger, seemingly only focusing on keeping himself safe. Only when his opponent, whether student or teacher, had no idea what to do with him, was when he would fling himself into them. 

"Wow, Mathieu. You're pretty good at flingin' yourself around like that." Sero spoke up, nearly startling the boy. Mathieu didn't say anything at first, only letting out a tired breath and cracking his back. The somewhat loud crack made the student flinch and Mathieu nodded in reply. He didn't exactly understand what his classmate had really meant, weren't they supposed to do this sort of thing? Weren't these students at U.A supposed to take advantage of their environment? 

Mathieu took a step back, pointing up at the ceiling, motioning Sero to look up. "Huh? Oh, man, Bakugou's really getting ready for the finals...I'm kinda worried about passing, honestly." 

Mathieu nodded with a slight frown, giving the other a reassuring pat on the shoulder. His classmate was just worried! How bad could one simple exam be?  

Well, Mathieu was soon about to find out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a few timeskips in this chapter, but hopefully everything makes sense


	13. You're Almost at the Last Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mathieu is getting closer to the final exams. A few thoughts of Aizawa from how he personally feels about this new student and Aperture.

A few more months and the final exams were, quite literally, just around the corner. It was clear that the class of 1-A, at least most of them, had spent a good majority of their time studying and cramming for the final exams. 

Mathieu had a _lot_ of information to take in, mostly because of how late he was to the class. In fact, it was a little surprising that the boy was allowed to stay in 1-A, but not 1-B or even the general studies. He had caught up on almost all the lessons, it was a little odd to seem him so eager to learn. Mathieu took in every bit of information with a grin, he had warmed up to his teachers...a little. He still flinched at the sight of them, glaring at them briefly before confirming he was safe enough. 

It bothered the staff occasionally, but they were glad he wasn't shying away anymore or trying to challenge them. But, little did they know, this sudden trust was only the set foundation of Mathieu's attempt to be "normal" like the other kids. 

Speaking of the other kids, Mathieu's behavior baffled them as much as the teachers. He got along with most of them fairly well. Especially Sero, Ojiro, Ochako, Midoriya, Tsuyu, Momo, and Koji. Everyone else was...a little different. He didn't shy away from the students he didn't get along with, but it was clear in his obvious mindset of that he needed to survive and escape and not fight didn't match his fellow classmates. 

Was that what he was supposed to do at Aperture? Aizawa almost hoped that Mathieu would break free from that mindset, maybe teach the boy that whatever had happened at Aperture was over. He wondered if it would affect his chances of getting recommendations. He thought of how long it took for the student to get used to being around authority figures that hopefully didn't hate him, and he thought about how long it would take for him to get used to a mentor.

Unfortunately, too long for anyone’s tastes. 

 

The tired teacher was just glad that Mathieu had caught up on enough lessons to pass the class by a thread, somewhat shocking when he compared it to other students who were at the same chance of passing but were around longer. It was almost funny to him. 

He set the records of Mathieu down, sighing softly to himself. Mathieu was certainly an odd one, his origins being way different than the other children in his class. The boy seemed eager to learn about heroes, despite the fact that the sight of certain heroes, All-Might for example, scared him off. 

It was like seeing the eagerness of someone to learn like Midoriya or Iida, but be scared off like a frightened puppy. And the issue was extremely clear to both him and all the other teachers. It was the result of Aperture. 

The result of the mysterious test facility that Mathieu came from and had been abandoned for years. 

Other than the records of Mathieu’s former education and his medical records being up to date, the boy was a literal blank canvas. His records had mentioned something about being cryogenic freeze, so he was probably out of touch from a lot of things too. The teacher put a tired hand on his face, clearly this was going to be an even bigger issue. 

“All-Might. What a coincidence.” Aizawa removed his hand from his face, seeing the figure of peace and justice walk into the room. “Shouta.” All-Might nodded slowly, noticing the mess of Mathieu’s records on the table. “He’s catching up quickly. How is he doing in his classes? He seems to be doing better lately." The blonde man casually asked, mostly getting a tired groan in reply. 

“It's...fine. He gets along with others enough. But he hasn't been here long enough to see what his weaknesses are. So far, it might only be working with someone else.” Aizawa explained quickly, putting a hand on his chin. “Oh. He still needs his costume update. We...can't exactly allow his current request. He has broken both of his legs twice in the past month. But...something bothers me.” He added, letting out another sigh. 

“What? What is it?” All-Might asked, sounding fairly confused. What, besides the overall mysterious origin of Mathieu, could be bothering the teacher? 

“He seems too...out of touch. According to Recovery Girl...and the other teachers, his performance is greatly affected by his sped up recovery and making him…” Aizawa beginning to say, before All-Might chimed in. “Making him fall asleep. Yeah. But I’m not too sure what made him do that, do you think it's...Aperture?” 

"What else would it be? We know nothing about him, and his records only go up to the middle of elementary school before it states that he was pulled out in favor of homeschooling." Aizawa was getting frustrated. This school was going to mold Mathieu into a future hero. While Mathieu seemed to take it with open arms, what went on behind the scenes were clouded with mystery. "But, he's going to pass the exams. Or, well, that's what I'm hoping." 

"That's what we all hope, for all our students. But...you're right. Maybe he'll adjust to this lifestyle quicker once exams are over, I doubt he was exactly expecting to be thrown into more tests after leaving a...testing facility." All-Might nodded in agreement, having high hopes for the boy. He had full confidence that Mathieu would be able to become a great hero! Besides, anyone can become a hero, can't they?

The two men soon left the teacher's lounge to get back to their separate classes, wrapping up any lessons needed for the soon approaching finals. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little update but I've added summaries bc those are rad


	14. I Guess You Did Stockpile a Few Tests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exams are here and the class 1-A is hard at work!
> 
> Of course, everyone is paired up at random with students they either don't get along with or their weakness goes well with their partner.  
> But why does Mathieu's exam feel so familiar...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a filler chapter i guess? I mean YEA the finals are a major plot point, but,,,because its more Mathieu focused, idk kinda half filler half actual plot

Today was the starting week of finals and everyone, most of them at least, were prepared in some way. Some, more prepared than others. Either way, tests were going to get done. Whether the classes wanted them to or not. Mathieu could only pray that he pass his exams, the teachers had been giving him assignment after assignment. They said it was the material for the exams. They said it was vital for him to pass his classes. For some reason, Mathieu began to doubt that when he was getting the same assignments over and over. 

But, he knew most of the work given to him like the back of his hand. He knew it just as well, or even better, than the chambers at Aperture themselves. Now, all that was technically left was the actually do said exams.

* * *

 

He was nervous, but if the others are fine, then he should be too. Today was the day of the exam. The room was quiet, the only noises being the scratching of pencils and the sounds of breathing. 

It made Mathieu nervous. There was no noise. But...despite that, he did his exam. 

His breathing quickened somewhat from not recognizing a few questions. He could only assume they were from early in the year. 

Were the tests supposed to be this hard? He could only vaguely remember the scientists, when they were alive, testing him. GLaDOS tested him many times. Even Wheatley tested him. And those tests were hard. 

He could only let out a quiet sigh, maybe the other tests wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

 

This was the second part of the test. Apparently, according to rumors, the test was to consist of students against robots. His palms grew sweaty, robots? Were they the same as the ones on the entrance exam? Or were they different? 

“Yo, Matt, you okay?” Kaminari had put a hand on his shoulder. Mathieu perked up, nodding slightly. 

Everyone had their hero costumes on today, Mathieu included. 

Although, his was just the outfit he had worn when he first arrived at U.A. But there were a few changes. Mathieu zipped up the jumpsuit and the sleeves were rolled up. The logo of Aperture Laboratories on his tank top was covered, but that didn't mean no one didn't see the Aperture Enrichment Laboratories on the back of his jumpsuit.

But the most noticeable thing about his costume were the ankle guards he wore, leaving him barefoot. And his bandaged hands too. They weren't bandaged because of his quirk, but to absorb sweat.

The exams instead of robots were against teachers, it got quite a bit of protest. Groups of two students against one teacher. It wasn't impossible, but one wasn't wrong to assume that the class was surprised. 

Mathieu felt relieved, sure, he knew that the teachers had just as much of a chance to kill him like the robots. But...the teachers wouldn't hurt him, would they? He stood up a little straighter, feeling a little confident in himself. Apparently the goal was to either escape or capture the opposing teacher. Pfft, escaping would be a breeze for the portal quirk student. 

Also, apparently, each student would be paired up by issue of weakness and how well they got along with others. Mathieu was paired with Sero. Well, actually, he could've been paired with every other student too. Despite being around longer than a month, the teachers were expecting him to get along with others and show some form of weakness. The boy did...tolerate others, but that was it. And his only true weakness was...well, actually fighting and working with others. 

Seriously, that was it from what the teachers could observe. 

"Wow, dude, you're so lucky you got into this school! I mean, what, you're not even out of middle school, right?" Sero half heartedly joked, getting a confused look from Mathieu. He...didn't think he was a middle schooler. Yes, he was on the shorter size from cryogentic freeze, but was he that short? Mathieu shook his head, pulling out his pen and a folded up and blank sheet of paper. He carefully scribbled out what he wanted to say, letting out an audible sigh and handed his teammate the paper. 

"O-oh...uh...sorry about that. It's kinda...hard to tell when you're so..." Sero frowned in slight shock and then confusion, motioning Mathieu's unfortunate height with his hand. "What? What happened??" Kirishima asked, tilting his head and notcing the boy's scowl and his partner's baffled expression, when Sero handed him the paper. Kirishima went quiet, not sure what to say. "I...okay? I uh...sorry." He apologized, seriously. Mathieu was  _ not _ a middle schooler. 

He was short. He looked like he was at most 12. Although, with the bitter scowl on his face and the paper saying: "My records say I'm 16." Maybe it was best to ask and just...not assume. Mathieu scowled again, letting out a breath before turning back to his partner. " _ We need to focus. We will do well _ ." Mathieu had added onto the paper, getting an eager look from his classmate. "Yeah! We totally will! We'll pass this exam, easy!" 

* * *

 

One by one the pairs of students were going against their assigned teacher for the second part of the exams. The rest of the students had the choice of either just waiting for their turn or heading to where they could watch their classmates do their exam. Mathieu and Sero waited. 

Mathieu was rocking back and forth. He had been attending this school for a few months. At least a good part of the semester had been crammed into his brain in the past week or so, this was  _ not _ anything done at Aperture.

There was no studying at Aperture, no exams to see what he knew or what he was learning. No. Mathieu was just thrown into the action and forced to adapt. Now, the scientists at least went easy on him, showing him what he had to do. Once, of course, but it was shown to him. Both GLaDOS and Wheatley being in charge, he was literally thrown into the test and the boy just hoped he could leave to go to the next test. 

U.A was horribly different. It was like being thrown into the water to learn how to swim before actually getting swimming lessons. It was just...hard for Mathieu to adapt. He wanted to adapt, sure, but testing was hardwired into his brain. Thank goodness one of the options of passing was just to escape the arena. But for some reason, he had a feeling it would be a little harder than running away from Wheatley or even GLaDOS. 

Mathieu glanced at Sero, trying to relax a little. No, he needed to forget about Aperture. This place was different than Aperture, this exam would be easy, just like Sero said it would be. Right? 

* * *

 

It was their turn. Mathieu glanced at his partner, who glanced back. They gave each an understanding nod before heading out into the arena. The buzzer sounded, signalling the start of the exam. 

Mathieu imeddiatley began to take in his surroundings, noticing the lack of portal surfaces. There were a few, but not enough. Or at least not enough to completely avoid confrontation of the teacher. 

Sero would go on ahead because he could get more distance. Mathieu would run behind, mostly to make sure the teacher, Ms. Midnight, wasn’t behind them. Mathieu sighed, getting worried. So far, the teacher was nowhere in sight. She wouldn’t just give them the grade, would she? 

Mathieu was good at escaping. That was just what he did as a test subject. Sero, with his quirk, could also be good at escaping. But did Ms. Midnight know that? Did she know that these students could just easily walk out as long as they were in the air or could run fast enough. 

Mathieu suddenly realized. His eyes widened and he stopped. The teacher would be waiting for them. She had to be fully aware of both boys’ disadvantage of being able to actually fight back. 

He was about to run ahead to get Sero, but he was gone. Did he successfully get out? Was he just waiting for him? 

The thoughts raced in Mathieu’s head as he ran to the exit of the arena, it was so close, just in his reach. Or, well, it would’ve been if not for the glaring problem standing in the way. Or to be specific, the glaring  _ teacher _ standing in the way. 

This was not going to be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes mathieu looks like a 12 year old  
> yes he is actually older than the class by a year


	15. What a Rush! Adrenaline Rush!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mathieu and Sero go up against Midnight! But with Sero out of commission, will Mathieu be able to make it out on his own with Sero in arms?

Sero had gotten to the goal. That wasn’t the issue at hand. The issue was that he was currently fast asleep in the enemy’s arms!!

Mathieu slowly stepped back, frowning in worry. Now what was he going to do? He knew it wouldn't be easy, but...well, he didn't actually know what to expect anyway. The boy turned around, running in the opposite direction. He knew the teacher, Midnight was behind him.

He had no idea what that stuff she was giving off, assuming it was some kind of neurotoxin. And, in a way, it was _kind of_ a neurotoxin. But instead of affecting his nervous, it would put him to sleep. Mathieu knew that inhaling whatever it was would result in failiure, he just hoped all it would do was put him to sleep.

* * *

 

This was not going to plan. Yes, Midnight had taken out of one of the students, but there was still...the other one. Mathieu Kiyota. Aizawa and All-Might said be prepared for anything. And she almost was. She had been told that he doesn't seem to work well with others, and she was told about his apparent "fighting style" of flinging himself into both people and objects. She knew about those things.

But even then, she had no idea what he was thinking. From their approach, it seemed obvious their only strategy was to get out. With Mathieu's portals to get more distance and Sero's tape to fling them both into the air, they could've literally flown out of the arena. But they didn't.

Mathieu was hiding somewhere and Sero had been left by the goal, not like he would wake up any time soon. Midnight knew he was around here somewhere, and she was a villain for now. So, hiding or not, the exams would go on!

* * *

 

Mathieu wasn't hiding. If you had asked him if he was, he'd swear he wasn't. Sero was asleep and wouldn't be of any help. He needed to think of some plan. A plan to get away from Midnight. He put his hands over his face in concentration, nearly slamming his back against the rock he was leaning against.

But then he suddenly got it. Treat this test like Aperture.

If he had survived the neurotoxin from both GLaDOS and Wheatley, then couldn't he survive this...weird, pink neurotoxin from Midnight? He held the piece of tape he had managed to grab in his somewhat pathetic looking escape, not wanting to risk anymore potential nerve damage and ran as fast as he could forward. With the tape covering his nose and mouth, Mathieu was ready to pass this test!

Midnight was waiting for him with that whip in hand, licking her lips. He was too focused on escaping to focus on her. Adrenaline pumped through his viens as he just barely dodged the whip. Anyone who could see his somewhat covered face could see his determined eyes, big brown eyes fully of a fiery focus to survive.

He ran like a rabbit and Midnight chased after him like a hawk chasing her prey. If it wasn't for those weighted bracelets, she could've easily caught him. But with him using his portals on the flatter ground of terrain, he was giving himself _plenty_ of distance away. It was actually a little impressive, but the real question was if he would take his partner along with him.

* * *

 

This was it! The end of the line! Mathieu turned back briefly, he sighed in relief at being far enough from Midnight and that stupid, but intimidating, whip. Sero was still by the goal, still snoozing away like this was nothing. He, in the heat of the moment, picked up the boy to carry him out of the arena. In any other time, this would be impossible. But Mathieu wanted to pass. He felt like he _had_ to pass. He didn't care about the training camp, it was about the other results of failing the exams.

The fear of failiure and Midnight got his blood pumping, and the only thing that stopped him was a time limit and his energy running out.

But Sero slowed him down. Midnight had caught up to him. She gave one last attempt to catch up and make Mathieu fall asleep.

The buzzer suddenly rang. Mathieu and Sero had passed the exam!

Mathieu, however, didn't seem to notice as he kept running. He had accidentally dropped Sero, still running. Clearly he was still in an adrenaline rush. Thankfully Sero wasn't hurt and was just waking up.

But before the tape quirk student could get Mathieu back into focusing, Mathieu had...well, fall forward in exhaustion. His muscles were tense and he looked like he was fighting sleep. But despite this, he had happily mouthed "Did good." to his partner, before...passing out.

* * *

 

Sero stood there awkwardly, seeing Mathieu asleep. The bags under his eyes were obvious signs that he had burned himself out of energy, and he had been forcing himself to study for weeks. Did he even bother to sleep? The tape quirk student sighed, shaking his head.

He’d better get him to the infirmary.


	16. Take One Good Look at Your Precious Human Pool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally summer, of course, Mathieu is invited with the rest the class to go use the school pool. Of course, as usual, Mathieu has no idea what he's getting into

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> iifnifni4enf im SUPER sorry I haven't updated in like forever so heres an epic battle royale chapter fellow gamers

Mathieu’s head throbbed. 

 

He groaned softly, slowly sitting up to observe his surroundings. He was back in the infirmary? Why was he back here? Mathieu quickly felt around, no bandages. At least around his head, his leg was bandaged and it felt numb. He must’ve injured himself again. 

He turned to the side, seeing two other students. Midoriya and...Bakugou? What were they doing here? Midoriya was awake, but Bakugou wasn't. The two boys suddenly locked eyes. 

“I uh…”Midoriya began to say, noticing the mute student tense up. All-Might was here, most likely to check on he and Bakugou. He certainly wasn't expecting Mathieu to be here either. 

Despite being in U.A for a few months, Mathieu had shown his obvious dislike for the symbol of peace. He didn't disobey the man nor simply ignore him, but Midoriya and All-Might could see his tense and more observant expression. 

“Ah, not so fast, young man! You need your rest, I don't know how you made yourself so exhausted, but with your leg, you need some well needed rest!” Recovery Girl had stopped Mathieu’s attempt to leave. His expression turned from anxiety of All-Might to a stubborn look of “I do what I want.” A common expression familiar to Midoriya from Bakugou. He had tried it again, Recovery girl didn't stop him. Most likely because if she stopped him again and again, he would try to leave again and again. 

Midoriya and All-Might could only watch Mathieu stubbornly hobble out, only to stop and turn to Midoriya and mouthed: “ _ Class? _ ” “O-oh, yeah, but Recovery Girl said-” Midoriya began to said, but he was clearly ignored. 

“That boy’s going to collapse from exhaustion one day.” Recovery Girl tsk’d, snapping the two males back into reality. 

* * *

 

“Eh? You don’t seem very excited, Matty, you get to go to training camp with us!” Mina could only sigh, pointing out the boy’s baffled expression. Aizawa had announced whether the class passed their finals or not, they’d get to go to training camp. Mathieu frowned with a shrug, not really sure  _ how _ to react. Everyone seemed excited, more or less, but why?

“ _ It sounds boring, why do I have to go? _ ” He wrote, getting a little gasp from the pink student. “BE- _ cause _ !” Mina began to say with a heavy groan. “It’s to train your quirk and stuff, it’s gonna be great!” Mathieu gave it some thought, shrugging again. Well, if everyone was that excited about it. Since, well, even the more stoic students had a little eager glimmer in their eyes. 

“Ugh, you’re so hopeless sometimes!” Mina half heartedly joked, she knew that the guy had to have been clueless about this sort of thing. Mathieu eventually nodded, she had assumed in agreement. 

Maybe this training camp thing wouldn’t have been too bad. Of course, that would’ve implied that the boy knew what he was getting into. 

* * *

 

It was a few days before the training camp and Mathieu found himself back at school. “...come on, dude! You’ve gotta join us! Come on, bikinis and swimming! What could be better?!” Kaminari had tried to convince Mathieu, who simply grunted in an effort to get out of the electric student’s grip. 

Of course, he had passed off the request to use the school pool for “educational” purposes. Of course he used both him and Midoriya to sweeten the deal, one because Midoriya would probably believe that the most and Mathieu...well, Mathieu wouldn’t do anything too bad. He was decent kid and Kaminari used that to his advantage.

So they were using the school pool, as Kaminari had explained: “For training purposes”. Okay, fine. 

“Come on, dude! They’re waiting on the other side!” Kaminari dragged Mathieu out once they were properly dressed.

 “Oh! What a lovely surprise, Kaminari, Kiyota!” Iida had been the one to greet them, apparently Midoriya had invited the other boys. How pleasant. 

Mathieu’s eyes widened a little, why did Kaminari invite everyone?? He sighed, walking up to the pool as he frowned. He suddenly flinched, snapping back into reality when he felt a hand to his back. 

“We’re glad you were able to join us! Here!” Iida cheerfully greeted him, handing him a can of orange juice. Mathieu held the can, carefully eyeing it. “Eh.” Mathieu shrugged, stepping away from the pool to, well, more or less just hold his drink. Not that he didn’t want it, but it was so sudden. 

“We should totally have a race! See who’s the fastest swimmer!” One of the boy’s voices rang out eagerly, startling Mathieu. He was dragged back to the pool’s edge, having to take part in the game. 

“Alright, whoever reaches the other side wins!” Momo instructed, motioning that the game had begun. Of course, there were no quirk limits, so Bakugou simply sped over the water like it was nothing. 

“Aw, come on, dude! That’s cheating! You didn’t even touch the water!” Kaminari complained, only getting a scoff from the explosive student. “Pfft, I got to the other side, didn’t I?” He snarled, glancing away. 

* * *

 

Then came to the next round. Mathieu was up in this round, honestly not even ready. He glanced at who he had to race against, Todoroki had to race against him. Who cared about the other kids, for the hot and cold student, this would literally be a breeze. 

But Mathieu had portals. If they could really use their quirks, then the two boys would be neck and neck and literally teleporting to the other side. 

But Mathieu sort of wanted to play fair. This was a  _ swimming _ competition. Didn’t that mean, you know, actually touched the water? Mathieu was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of splashing water and a cool breeze. He didn’t even need to think twice, snapping his fingers to form two portals and reaching the other side. 

Well, he did certainly get to the other side of the pool faster than the other boys, except for Todoroki of course. He was fast, but he was even faster with his ice side. Mathieu was almost jealous of it. 

The two locked eyes and Mathieu only gave Todoroki a little grin that said: “You did pretty good.”, before Mathieu walked back to the other boys to help them out of the water. 

* * *

 

It was the final lap of the race between the boys of 1-A. 

The three students: Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki were about to race each other. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, who would win? Would it be Bakugou’s explosive speed? Or Midoriya’s powerful quirk that could boost his speed? Or would it be Todoroki’s cool, but speedy speed?

They’d be neck and neck. 

The three were about to take off, but something was wrong. Where were their quirks? Everyone was confused before they heard a familiar voice. 

“Hey, it’s 5 pm. You all have to leave now.” The tired voice, belonging to Aizawa, said, sighing from the complaints of his students. “B-but sensei! We were just about to-!” Kaminari protested, only getting an annoyed glare from the teacher. His word was final. 

So, not to get in any trouble, the students did what he said and left. 

* * *

 

Mathieu had to admit, going to the pool wasn’t so bad. Yeah he had no idea why Kaminari had insisted, but that race was actually kind of fun. But now a more important issue was coming up. That training camp that the rest of the class was so excited about. 

Mathieu couldn’t help but frown out of worry. He really didn’t have a clue what to expect. How would his quirk be trained? Was it not good enough?   He could only sigh heavily to himself. 

Well, he’d just have to find out, wouldn’t he?


	17. One Day You'll Experience The Surface

Mathieu never truly understood the point of a summer training camp.

 

His classmates had never shut up about it when the finals ended. When Aizawa had told them that _they_ all could go, their eager chatter about the place just increased by a thousand. Sure, they told Mathieu about it. He had been dragged to the mall to prepare too, he assumed it was only because they thought he was clueless about going to camp. 

Which he was, but that's besides the point. He had packed a bag to last him for a week at camp, shoving in his Rubik’s cube and some gummy worms. He was standing with his class, waiting for the bus to arrive. 

If he were to be honest, he was okay with the bus never arriving. He wasn’t afraid of the bus or anything, of course. He had to take a bus to go back to Aperture. But a bus to a training camp wasn't going to Aperture. He was at least familiar with Aperture. Mathieu certainly hoped that this camp wasn't going to rope him back into testing for the rest of his life. Okay maybe he was a little nervous about this. But what would he even have to do at this camp?

What would Mathieu do to have to improve on his portals? He was fairly sure his quirk, at least from what he could observe, was a fairly straight forward quirk. He wasn't like Midoriya, Momo, or even someone like Kirishima. All he did was make portals. But Mathieu couldn’t help but crack a little smile to himself, almost beginning to chuckle at the thought of that they’d be teaching him how to send portals to the moon. 

His class would be in for a surprise if Mathieu could send a portal to the moon again. Sure, it was easier than it looked, but it was also _very_ dangerous.  

Mathieu snapped back into reality from the voice of Iida, quite loudly, saying how everyone had to get on the bus. He glanced back at the school with slight worry, not wanting to hope for the worst on this little trip.

He got on the bus, immediately pulling out his Rubik's cube to relax. Maybe think about the companion cube for a little while. He trusted them to be fine, alone in his apartment. He could've sworn they said they loved him.  

But that wasn't important right now. Mathieu drained out the noise of bored complaints to slowly doze off to sleep. Even though he didn't really have high hopes for this training camp, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Mathieu was in complete awe. He had never seen so many trees ever in his life before. 

 

He knew what plants were, he saw plenty of trees and other plants on the surface and there were plenty of plants growing in Aperture. Mathieu knew that plants existed. But he had never seen so _many_ in one place before. He didn't care about those two cat women, nor the obviously out of place child. Nope, those trees were just so...attention grabbing.

Mathieu leaned almost dangerously close over the ledge, fully confident that he wouldn't tumble over the ledge. Besides, that's what the fence was for, right? He let out an audible gasp in confusion when he heard the footsteps of his classmates scrambling to get back onto the bus. Why were they yelling at him to get back onto the bus with them? 

 

He stood up straight, actually, about to walk back to everyone else before he felt the ground shake a little. He glanced down at the ground before looking back up, of course it was a quirk. The class of 1-A, excluding Aizawa of course, was briefly launched into the air before they all fell or slid down the cliff on the other side of the fence that was closer to the forest. 

Mathieu groaned as he stood up, dusting himself off. One of the women, he really wasn't paying attention to who was who, said that the entire class had to get through the "Beast's Forest" by lunch. Failure to do so would result in getting no lunch. There were obvious protests, Mathieu heard the startled cries of Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero and a few others to be specific. 

Mathieu rolled his eyes at that, they were being silly. Mathieu wasn't too bothered by missing a meal, and what was even so scary about a place called "Beast's Forest"? Admittedly, the only scary things he had ever experienced were machines and birds. Mathieu really hoped neither would show up, how terrifying it would be to come face to face with a machine that had the potential to kill all of them or just a whole flock of birds. He preferred robots since they could be destro- 

 

Mathieu was suddenly shoved out of the way, snapping out of his calculating thoughts. He had been shoved out of the way by Midoriya, peering over his shoulder to see....something? It didn't look like it was made of metal...or birds. 

He sort of understood how a thing made of...dirt could be scary, seeing as how Midoriya had shoved him out of the way. 

But, Mathieu had a bad feeling about this. It was one thing to walk to training camp, or simply portal everyone in half the time to camp. But having to fight their way there? Mathieu couldn’t see nor understand the appeal. 

Well, Mathieu didn’t have a lot of time worrying about what the point of fighting for their lives were, since the dirt monster was gone now. Beaten by the four students who seemed to get involved with more issues than anyone else in the class: Midoriya, Bakugou, Iida, and Todoroki. 

Everyone looked relieved, about to walk forward before there was a loud roar and the whole class collectively groaned out: “There’s another one?” This was going to be a _long_ way to the camp.

* * *

 As the class of 1-A dragged their exhausted selves to camp, it was way past lunch. It was probably way past dinner too. With the draining task of, in Mathieu's view, fighting to survive and the fact that none of the class had eaten, it was a miracle that they had some energy left to keep walking.

Mathieu's head was hurting, and it didn't help that one of the women, she had mentioned her name was....Mandalay, had said that she had mentioned earlier was for her and Aizawa, but not the class. It was...probably supposed to be funny, since the class was sort of laughing with pained looks on their faces. How weird, Mathieu thought before attempting to straighten up his back.

But hey, at least the class got to eat. It helped that they were able to eat to their heart's content before being told next time they’d have to prepare their own food. Not that the class cared at that moment, too busy eating from how tired and hungry they were. 

Mathieu did eat, sort of. He liked eating more now, especially since his stomach could handle food. If Mathieu had arrived at U.A now, it wouldn't be a surprise for him to vomit the large meal back up. Of course that was because of Aperture. It was pretty obvious at this point. But despite that, Mathieu ate until he was full, sighing to himself. Tomorrow would be the training camp, everyone would head to bed after their meal. Then they'd wake up for training. 

Training their quirks. Mathieu thought again about how his quirk would be trained, wondering if he'd be able to use more surfaces or even have portals in water. It was a stretch, sure, but who really knew what Class 1-A was going to do tomorrow. 

Mathieu just hoped he was ready. 

  
  



End file.
